The vagaries of getting older...

 Okay - I haven't updated the blog in a while.  I've been on a journey which has lately involved the quest to get good sleep - deep restful sleep.  Ah the vagaries of getting older.  It is amazing how much sleep affects our outlook and creativity, even our objectivity about life.  I've concluded I'm not much of a blogger, much less when this was more of a problem for me.  But I am improving as I consult with doctors, learn new techniques of getting back to sleep and the role of walking this out with Jesus.  

I just went to the 50th anniversary of SIGGRAPH last month.  I have loved computer graphics ever since I saw Star Wars, the Wrath of Khan and Tron.  Once I bought my first computer in 1980 and started writing programs to generate my own images I was clear that this would somehow be part of my life.  I had met Jim Blinn briefly on a tour of JPL (Jim had been rendering images of the planets for the Voyager flyby - he was so influential and early that there is a computer graphics "shader" that bears his name).

At SIGGRAPH I was able to again say hi to Jim Blinn briefly.  I also met Gordan Romney, the first person with a PhD in computer graphics.  Attending SIGGRAPH with several thousand other people (and my young staff protegee Alex Lyons), it struck me how young the computer graphics world is, and yet how far it has come in the last 50 years. 

Personally, to see how my love for the Lord, my lifelong fascination with computers and computer graphics and then my work with the Jesus Film Project - to see how they have intersected is amazing to me.  To work on projects and with people for whom God has put similar skills and giftings together in complementary areas - and we all get to work together - wow!  What a privilege.  If you are reading this then you are part of that, and have probably been praying for our family and ministry.  Thank you!

One more example I haven't had time to talk about - the social side of computer graphics in online spaces.  The advancements of computer hardware, mobile devices and the global internet has meant that people play games together globally, sing, chat (anyone ever use Zoom?) and so much more.  Some of these spaces are starting to be called the "metaverse" since you can take on a virtual representation of yourself and a level of anonymity.  Some use this for bad purposes.  But the Lord is calling many people to go into these spaces and share the love of Christ with people that (in many cases) would never darken the door of a local church.

I was just a part of a 'metaverse cohort' for the last 6 weeks with 30+ people that are doing exactly this.  They are learning about this new avenue of outreach as they collaborate and help a growing community of people learn how to bring the gospel to this generation.  We are finding that the human heart is no different here than in a person to person conversation: the deepest needs of the heart can only be met by being restored to fellowship to God through Jesus.  The difference though is that many people find it much easier to talk about spiritual things very early in a conversation, probably because of the safety of anonymity.  May God grant us all the faith and boldness to speak about Jesus in whatever situation we meet people in!

Thanks for reading.  Please pray I will be ever bolder as I find strength and rest in the Lord!

irv


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